Fall Festival tonight! Come support the youth and enjoy Halloween food and fun. I believe we are having barbecue as well as potluck items brought in by the youth.

"Without solitude it is virtually impossible to live a spiritual life. Solitude begins with a time and place for God, and him alone. If we really believe not only that God exists but also that he is actively present in our lives - healing, teaching, and guiding - we need to set aside a time and space to give him our undivided attention. Jesus says, "Go to your private room and , when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in that secret place" (Matthew 6:6). " - From Making All Things New by Henri J. M. Nouwen

We are beginning a three month stretch of busyness and marketing and priorities that may or may not be the same as our Lord has. Intentionally schedule on your calendars some private God time every week through the end of the year!!

Grace and Peace be with you

"The man who is proud of anything he thinks he has reached, has not reached it. He is proud of himself, and imagining a cause for his pride....Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they are of the same spirit as God, and of nature the kingdom of heaven is theirs." - From Life Essential by George MacDonald

Who are we really? The wider we cast our gaze the more able we are to recognize our place in the universe. How about this Fall season appearing around us?

Fried chicken and green beans for dinner tonight at our Wednesday Night cafe! Come join us and stick around for a lesson or some good fellowship.

Have a Good One!

"All our merely natural activities will be accepted, if they are offered to God, even the humblest: and all of them, even the noblest, will be sinful if they are not." - From The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis

We continually have to struggle with attaching value to our own perceptions of beauty and accomplishment, forgetting that true value comes from offering what we have to God.

Stay warm! We have had a cold couple of days here in Alabama! Have a blessed week!

Immeasurable Love

More Julian of Norwich -

"God only desires that our soul cling to him with all of its strength, in particular, that it clings to his goodness. For of all of the things our minds can think about God, it is thinking upon his goodness that pleases him most and brings the most profit to our soul.

For we are so preciously loved by God that we cannot even comprehend it. No created being can ever know how much and how sweetly and tenderly God loves them. It is only with the help of his grace that we are able to persevere in spiritual contemplation with endless wonder at his high, surpassing, immeasurable love which our Lord in his goodness has for us." - From Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich

What will take to learn to love like this?

Meatloaf and mashed potatos tonight at Central UMC! First time visitors eat free!

Pledge cards going out soon for next year's budget. Prayfully consider how to best please God...

See you tonight!

I came to a new understanding why Jesus passed up the religious establishment of his day, the economically secure, the socially prestigous, and sought out the poor, the outcast, the sinner, the broken, the sick, the lonely. He felt, as we so often do not feel, their sorrow. He was acquainted, as we too seldom are, with their grief. On Calvary he died of a broken heart. but that heart was broken long before Black Friday, by the desolation of the common people. "In all their afflictions he was afflicted." - The Captivating Presence by Albert Edward Day

So many people are seeking understanding. Who can you listen to today?

I stand by the door.

I neither go too far in, nor stay too far out,

The door is the most important door in the world -

It is the door through which men walk when they find God.

There's no use my going way inside, and staying there,

When so many are still outside and they, as much as I,

Crave to know where the door is.

And all that so many ever find

Is only the wall where a door ought to be.

They creep along the wall like blind men,

With outstretched, groping hands.

Felling for a door, knowing there must be a door,

Yet they never find it...



So I stand by the door. - From I Stand By the Door by Samuel Moor Shoemaker



People depend on us.....



Have a great week!

Another good old fashioned pot-luck supper tonight at 5:00 in our Fellowship Hall! We have three classes on tap for tonight as well. I will be leading a discussion on perseverance, our pastor will be discussing Adam Hamilton's book Enough, and a book study is taking place in the library. Tonight I am bringing a corn pudding for dinner.

"God gives us the boat and the oars, but then tells us, "It's up to you to row." Making 'positive acts of faith' is like training this faculty; it is developed by training, as the muscles are developed by gymnastics." From Letters from the Desert by Carlo Carretto

Stewardship is not just about money.

See you tonight at the church!

Job 23:1-6

Then Job answered: "Today also my complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy despite my groaning. Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his dwelling! I would lay my case before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. I would learn what he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me. Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No; but he would give heed to me.

We keep wanting to read Job as if it will answer the question of why bad things happen to us. And the author's answer is simply bad things happen. This isn't very satisfying and we have to discipline ourselves to look for the answers that ARE provided. For example, in this passage we learn that it is all right to want to argue with God and complain about bad things. And in a very comforting way, we also learn that although God may not chnage anything at all about the way life is treating us, he will still give heed. He will still listen. God still very much cares.

We've got another pot-luck supper coming up on Wednesday so come on out to the church and say hello! I brought a macaroni and cheese dish on Sunday so for Wednesday I will be making a simple corn pudding.

Have a great week!

A great day yesterday as we experienced Sunday in then Park in the Fellowship Hall! We will also be continuing our month long study of what it means to have 'enough'.

In the meantime... Julian of Norwich (1343-1413) Julian is the most popular of the English mystics. She lived as a benedictine nun in Norwich, beside the St. Julian Church, from which she most likely took her name. She wrote a book called Revelations of Divine Love, which was one of the first popular works written by a woman. She wrote about wanting to know God more completely.

"On the year 1373, on May 13, God gave me a three-fold revelation. This was his gracious gift to me in response to my desire to know him more. The first was a deep recollection of his passion. The second was a bodily sickness. The third was to have, of God's gift, three wounds.

As to the first, it seemed to me that I had some feeling for the Passion of Christ, but still I desired to have more by the grace of God. My wish was to have been present with those who loved Christ and were with him at his passion so that I, with my own eyes, might have seen the passion which our Lord suffered for me, and so that I might have suffered with him as the others did who loved him. I never desired any other sight or revelation of God."

We sometimes approach this strong desire to more fully understand the passion of Christ during the Lenten season, but there will never be a bad time for reflecting upon just how much God has done on our behalf through His Son. There are football games every weekend at the college and pro levels and Halloween will soon be followed by Thanksgiving which gives way to Christmas. And Jesus died for you and me.... Again we remember to start with the basic truths of our faith.

Have a blessed week!

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
O my God, in you I trust:
do not let me be put to shame;
do not let my enemies exult over me.
Do not let those who wait for you be put
to shame;
let them be ashamed who are wantonly
treacherous.

Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth, and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all day long.

From Psalm 25:1-5

Sunday in the Park this Sunday at Delano Park at 10:30! I'm bringing a macaroni and cheese dish that is always well received. Of course I've never been to a pot luck where macaroni and cheese wasn't well received! Mitchell will be preaching from I Timothy 6:6-10.

I'm also leaving for Nashville this morning to pick up my mother-in-law who is arriving from San Antonio.

Have a great weekend. We'll see you on Sunday!

To be humble in our actions, to avoid every appearance of pride and vanity, to be meek and lowly in our words, actions, dress, behavior, and designs - all in imitation of our blessed Saviour - is worshipping God in a higher manner than do they who have only stated times to fall low on their knees in devotions. - From A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life by William Law

Sunday the Park is just around the corner here in Decatur, Alabama! Join us in worship on Sunday morning at 10:30 over at Delano Park and stick around for a good ol' Methodist pot luck meal afterwards! Casual dress is most welcome!

See you on Sunday!